Turkish Airlines’ decision to make Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen a second base was celebrated in some style at the airport on 31 March 2013. In the last 12 months, the airline’s network at the airport has grown from nine to 30 destinations, while weekly flights have increased by 180%.

Figures published this week by DHMI show that Turkey’s airports processed 150.2 million passengers (including transit passengers), up almost 15% on last year’s figure of 131 million. This means that Turkey has now passed Italy to become Europe’s fifth biggest passenger market after the UK, Germany, Spain and France. Based on current growth rates Turkey could even overtake France as soon as this year to move into fourth place.

Istanbul Atatürk Airport passed the 50-million passenger mark, growing by 14%, while the city’s other airport at Sabiha Gökçen, grew by a phenomenal 27%, and handled well over 18 million passengers, thanks both to Pegasus Airlines’ on-going growth, but also Turkish Airlines’ decision to make the airport a second base for its own operations. Turkey currently has 14 airports handling more than one million annual passengers, and all of them grew in 2013.

Source: DHMI

Analysis of growth during the course of the year shows that passenger numbers rose by more than 12% in every month except for July, when growth was a more modest 6.5%. This may be related to the high-profile protests that took place in Istanbul at the end of May and beginning of June.

Turkish Airlines now ‘bigger than Delta’ for single-hub connections

Turkish Airlines continues to be Europe’s fastest-growing major legacy carrier. During 2013 it started service to 25 new destinations from Istanbul Atatürk as summarised in the following table.

Launch date

Destination

Country

WF* (aircraft type)

31 January

Libreville (LBV) [outbound via Douala]

Gabon

3 (B739ER)

31 January

Douala (DLA) [return via Libreville]

Cameroon

3 (B739ER)

1 February

Colombo (CMB) [via Male]

Sri Lanka

5 (A330)

1 April

Houston (IAH)

USA

4 (B773ER)

3 April

Aqaba (AQB)

Jordan

3 (B73G)

25 April

Kuala Lumpur (KUL)

Malaysia

4 (A343)

2 May

Friedrichshafen (FDH)

Germany

4 (A320)

20 May

Isparta (ISE)

Turkey

3 (eqv)

21 May

Santiago de Compostela (SCQ)

Spain

3 (A319)

25 May

Malta (MLA)

Malta

3 (eqv)

28 May

Salzburg (SZG)

Austria

4 (B738)

3 June

Gassim (ELP)

Saudi Arabia

4 (eqv)

4 June

Marseille (MRS)

France

4 (B738)

7 June

Constanta (CND)

Romania

3 (A319)

11 June

Tallinn (TLL) [return via Vilnius]

Estonia

3 (A319)

11 June

Vilnius (VNO) [outbound via Tallinn]

Lithuania

3 (A319)

25 June

Luxembourg (LUX)

Luxembourg

4 (eqv)

7 July

Kastamonu (KFS)

Turkey

4 (B738)

25 July

Bingöl (BGG)

Turkey

3 (eqv)

27 July

Sirnak (NKT)

Turkey

3 (eqv)

1 September

Kathmandu (KTM)

Nepal

4 (A332)

19 November

Mazar-i-Sharif (MZR)

Afghanistan

3 (A320)

27 November

Lahore (LHE)

Pakistan

3 (B738)

12 December

Kano (KAN)

Nigeria

4 (B738)

12 December

N’Djamena (NDJ) [via Kano]

Chad

4 (B738)

Source: anna.aero new route database *Weekly frequency when launched

According to Innovata / Diio Mi data for January, Turkish Airlines now serves 215 destinations with non-stop flights from Istanbul Atatürk, up from 196 this time last year. The airline’s only global rival for such a diverse network from a single airport is Delta Air Lines’ Atlanta hub, which, according to the same data source, serves 214 destinations non-stop, an increase of seven from the same time last year.

Turkish Airlines triples Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen network

At Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen, the airline’s growth has been even more dramatic. In January 2013, Turkish Airlines operated 132 weekly departures across a network of just nine routes, but this January that number has risen to 356 weekly departures spread across 30 routes. The 21 new routes launched in 2013 include domestic routes to Diyarbakir, Elazig, Gaziantep, Hatay, Kars, Konya, Mardin, Samsun, Sirnak and Van, and international routes to Amsterdam, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Kuwait, London Gatwick, Milan Malpensa, Paris CDG, Tbilisi, Tehran, Tel Aviv and Vienna.